Reporter files assault complaint over attack

A journalist in Siem Reap province filed a complaint on Monday to provincial police officials against a logger he claimed assaulted him at a petrol station.

Ly Phalla, a journalist at the province’s National Development newspaper, said the incident occurred on Saturday night in Siem Reap’s Slakram district. He said a car with two passengers followed him to the petrol station, where one of the passengers allegedly assaulted him.

“There was a man that got out of the car and hit me on my head, ear, temple and left eye,” said Ly Phalla. “I am lucky that the surrounding people helped and then [the perpetrators] drove their car to escape.”

Sort Nady, the provincial police chief, said yesterday that he hadn’t received Ly Phalla’s complaint, but would “take measures through the law” when it was received.

Sou Choeun, director of the Siem Reap Angkor Journalists Alliance, said that reporters have a right to report disputes, but only under work-related circumstances.

“The suspects have to be punished if they hit reporters when they are reporting the news, but it’s different if the dispute is a personal one,” he said.